Novels by Ezeogu Esther

Mason peered from the edge of the battlefield, breath coming in sharp pants, heart drumming an unsteady tattoo against his ribs. The silence following the Ascended’s judgment was stifling. The Emperors were sprawled on the broken earth, their screams still ringing in his ears. Their authority was stripped, their reign dismantled. And yet, it didn’t feel right.Scarlett moved closer, voice dropped. “Mason, this isn’t over.”He looked over at her, his expression inscrutable. “I know.”The Ascended had given him a choice, but it was a weight that settled on him like a vice. The visions they had displayed before him still gnawed against his mind — two paths, each dangerous in their own right.But before he could speak, a voice slithered through the air, like poisoned silk.“You honestly believe it’s that simple?”Mason’s spine stiffened. The voice was unmistakable — frigid, familiar, steeped in malice.A figure scaled an object, in the darkness beyond the ruinous battlefield. Not an Emper

Scarlett’s head spun long after Jaxon left, his words scratching at her mind like invisible claws."Mason isn’t invincible. Power breeds resentment. Resentment breeds betrayal."She wanted to believe it. Needed to believe it. Because if Mason wasn’t invincible, then perhaps she could escape.But thinking such thoughts was dangerous. Reckless. Mason was not a man who forgave betrayal. He destroyed it. And yet … wasn’t she already in the wreckage of his control?Scarlett paced the room Mason had trapped her into, breathless with fear. Each step felt heavier than the one before.She wasn’t dumb — she knew Mason would never set her free of her own choice. But if there were fissures in his empire, if there were adversaries hovering, biding time for the moment to attack…Could she use that?Her fingers balled into fists.We’re not moving pieces around in this game, Scarlett. You’re the prize.Jaxon had tossed her those words like a sentence. But Scarlett would not accept it. She had been co

The silence that Mason left in his wake was suffocating. Scarlett was frozen, his words still wrapping around her head like a vice.“When you get it all figured out, Scarlett, you know where I’ll be.”Damn him.Damn him for getting under skin like that, for taking everything and turning it into something she couldn’t straighten out to tell the difference between reality and another one of his lies.She needed to clear her mind. She needed space.But space was not something Mason offered easily.Hearing footsteps, she stiffened. Scarlett turned around expecting him but saw someone else in the dark hallway.Jaxon.Her pulse spiked. Mason’s right-hand man. The man who never let her out of his sight for too long.The one who had been told to ensure she never ventured too far.His smirk was lazy, but his eyes had something calculating. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Scarlett.Scarlett made her face into a blank slate. "What do you want?"Jaxon stood in the doorway, observing her. "You

Scarlett was nearly in the middle of the great hall, her heart thumping against her ribs like a war drum. A palpable tension hung in the air, weighted with what was left unsaid. Mason was in his usual position—splayed across the wealth of a leather chair like a deity surveying his dominion. He drummed his fingers lazily on the armrest, never taking his eyes off of her.She wanted to turn her back and walk out of the room. But she couldn't. Not with everything on the line.Not with the truth ready to split her open from within.Mason sighed, cocking his head. “You’ve had me rather well boxed,” he speculated. “That is not your style, Scarlett.”Scarlett clenched her fists. “Maybe I finally learned that words don’t mean sh-t to peeps like you.”Mason grimaced, although his amusement didn’t touch his eyes. “People like me?”“You know exactly what I’m saying.”Mason leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “No, I don’t think I do. Why don’t you enlighten me?”Scarlett felt the heat

The silence stretched between them like a pulled taut rope, wild knots at either end, a slack moment away from snapping. The pit of Scarlett’s stomach dropped, and Mason’s words sat on Scarlett like chains she felt but could not Ironically break.She wasn’t his. She would never be his.But Mason… he was not buying that.And that made him dangerous.He stared down into her face, dark, and unblinking, naked her in ways that had nothing to do with contact. He didn’t even have to touch her to make her feel trapped. His words, his presence, his unadulterated certainty — they suffocated her.Scarlett took a breath, forced together the torn remnants of her defiance. “You’re wrong about me,” she said, her voice steadier than she was.Mason merely smirked, the tilt of his lips slow, purposeful. “Am I?”She lifted her chin. “Yes.”Mason stepped forward, slowly.Scarlett held her ground.Another step.Her nails dug into her palms.Another.He hung two inches away from her, a solid wall of him pr

The space between them was thick with silence — suffocating. Scarlett’s heart raced, blood pounding at her ears as her breaths came unevenly, ragged. Mason’s words hung in the air around her, like a noose, only growing tighter with each passing second.She wanted to talk — to fight back. To push him away, to yell, to do anything other than stay frozen, pinned under the gravity of his existence. But she couldn’t.Because deep down, she knew he was right.And she found that terrifying.Mason saw it. Of course, he did. The flash of indecision in her eyes, the way her body tightened just a moment too late. It was a slow, satisfied smirk. “There it is,” he mumbled, voice heavy with delight. “That moment of doubt. That fear.”Scarlett’s jaw clenched. “I’m not afraid of you.”Mason chuckled, low and dark. “Oh, sweetheart,” he said, tilting his head and leaning in closer. “You should be.”His breath was hot on her skin and she hated how it sent shudders skidding down her spine.Scarlett swall